Melissa Huszarski, 31, of Goffstown took the money while working at the Glen Lake Animal Hospital, police said. She had been working there since 2007.

Huszarski, whose duties included handling accounts receivable and preparing daily bank deposits, is also accused of altering financial records and individual medical records for clients' pets. Police said it's not known how many medical records were affected.

“More money, more transactions – literally from what was a few times a month to monthly to weekly to daily,” said Dr. Lee Garrod, the owner of the veterinary practice. “They obviously thought they couldn't be caught.”

Garrod said she was shocked to learn one of her employees allegedly stole from her for at least five years.

The hospital staff started taking a close look at all the records during the summer after one pet owner was told his dog needed a Lyme disease vaccine, but he brought in a receipt to prove it had already been done. The hospital had no record of the vaccine.

Members of the staff found cash transactions that dated back to 2008, and in each, something had been deleted. Each time, Huszarski was logged in.

Police began investigating in early July.

“This person is deleting cash transactions and pocketing the money and shorting the company and making it look like there were less treatments being done to the animals from the clientele that would come in,” said Capt. Robert Browne of the Goffstown Police Department.

“Most things that were deleted were medication that the pet went home with that they paid cash for and it’s not in the record,” Garrod said. “What do we think a year later? It was on the medication but we assumed it never had the medication. What if it had a reaction to the medication and all that history was deleted and we went and redispensed it a year later?”

The hospital has worked on amending its records.

Garrod said Huszarski had them all fooled. In fact, Huszarski was given a bonus this spring.

“I feel sorry for her,” Garrod said. “It’s quite the blemish going forward for such a young person. She should have thought before she did it, that’s for sure.”

Bail for Huszarski was set at $15,000 cash.

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